Founding president of Society of Graphic Designers (GDC) dies

John Gibson

It's been reported by DesignEdge Canada magazine that one of the founding members of the Society of Graphic Designers of Canada (GCD), John Gibson, has died at the age of 83. 

Coming out of a typographic background, starting as an apprentice compositor in London, England, he became the first secretary of the Typographic Designers of Canada in 1956, after emigrating to Canada. After working in various positions in the industry both in Canada and the U.S., he was elected national president of the newly chartered Society of Graphic Designers of Canada in 1976.

In March of this year, a very appropriate recognition was the naming of a typeface in his honour (designed by Rod McDonald and developed by Canada Type). Its goal was not only to honour Gibson but to highlight the negative impacts of font piracy; the idea was to provide design students with an affordable, licensed typeface so there was no reason to steal it (it costs $48 for a full family of 8 fonts from Canada Type).